


Reaction

by SparklingDragonTears



Series: Partners [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Doctors, Fear of doctors, Ficlet, Gen, Implied Threat, Implied Violence, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Protective Rude, Recreational Drug Use, ShinRa Mafia, Turks (Compilation of FFVII), fear of injection, gun threat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23780371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklingDragonTears/pseuds/SparklingDragonTears
Summary: Reno panics when the ShinRa doctors try to inject him with a glowing materia concoction.His mentor forces his way in to bring him down.Neither one mention the fear in Rude's eyes.*Shortly after Red Chapter 1
Relationships: Reno & Rude (Compilation of FFVII), Reno/Rude (Compilation of FFVII)
Series: Partners [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711810
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	Reaction

**Author's Note:**

> Shortly after Reno agrees to join the Turks training. 
> 
> Might make another chapter from Rude's perspective.  
> He doesn't want his little punk to die for something as stupid as medicine.
> 
> \--  
> (To be clear, Reno is afraid of being injected with materia-medicine, not needles.)  
> [He is a drug addict.]

Reno couldn’t _help_ it. They came at him with that damned glowing needle and the panic was instant. The green shine radiated like a poison, activating something deep inside of him that made him want to puke. The last time he’d shot up a green materia _something_ , it reacted with the cheap mako remnants floating around inside him and practically burned his blood from his body. He’d been positive he was going to die alone in an alley, would burn to ash in the streets in the agonizing hours it took to leave his system. He was _not_ about to live through that hell again.

Reno’s body moved before he thought, instinct and old habit kicking in. The nurse had been knocked out cold with a single hit, the doctor’s nose only _just_ broken because he’d restrained himself when he realized the woman was laid out on the floor.

He was backed into a corner, three armed guards standing at the door of the tiny sterile room, daring him to make a move. He felt like a caged animal, only able to see his blocked exit and the injection clutched in the doc’s bloody hand. 

He didn’t know how long he’d sat panting in the corner, knees to his chest, but eventually his mentor shoved his way past the guards. Rude looked pissed, all muscles and clenched fists and dark shades pointed in his direction as he immediately located him in the corner. The large man came over and yanked the syringe from the doctor, shoving him toward the doorway.

“ _Move._ ” He snapped. The doctor more or less scrambled out of the man’s way. 

Reno cursed himself for it, but he flinched and backed against the wall as Rude came closer. The man moved slowly, tightly controlling every inch of his body. He squatted down, just close enough to Reno to block out the room, but lingering at the edge of his personal space.

“You have to take it.” He said calmly. Reno glared at him.

“Fuck you.” He bit back. Rude was completely unfazed. He waited a beat and spoke again, even and low.

“It won’t hurt you.” He said, correctly identifying Reno’s fear after only a few seconds in the room. 

Reno shook his head sharply, but had no reply. Rude sighed and reached up to take off his sunglasses, carefully tucking them in his front pocket of his jacket. Reno swallowed. It was no wonder the man wore those things all day, his eyes couldn’t hold a secret to save his life. Reno saw there a worry, a _fear_. Fear for what, he couldn’t guess. He saw the plea behind his rock-hard demeanor. Rude _needed_ Reno to fucking listen for once in his life.

“Take it.” He prompted again, barely above a whisper. He didn’t yet hold the syringe where Reno could reach it. Smart man.

“Whatever it is, I don’t need it.” Reno snarled, the glow burning his retinas.

Rude’s eyebrows dropped, his face morphing into something dangerous.

“Doesn’t matter whether you need it.” He growled through gritted teeth, just low enough for only Reno to make out. “You take it because they told you to, because you came here on your own free will and now you belong to them.”

Reno opened his mouth to argue when Rude snapped out a hand and grabbed his collar from behind his legs and tugged, effectively toppling him onto his knees. He looked dead into Reno’s eyes, and he could hardly begin to decipher the million emotions swirling there. Rude fisted his collar tightly like an anchor between them, not that Reno could escape the man if he tried.

“ShinRa. Fucking. Own you.” Rude told him, voice hard enough to break bones. “They own you and me and everyone in this gods forsaken city. You do what they say.”

Reno just couldn’t help his smart mouth. It was like he had no self-preservation filter.

“Or what?” He demanded, immediately biting his tongue at the way Rude’s eye twitched.

In one fluid motion, Rude dropped him and pulled a handgun from inside his jacket. He pointed it at Reno’s chest, unwavering.

“Or I shoot you right here.” His answer was easy, surprisingly light, although by the way the guards took a few steps into the room, Reno supposed no one else could effectively hear the words spoken.

Reno took in a shaking breath. He looked down at the gun and hesitated. The hammer was drawn back, ready, but the loaded chamber indicator was down. He glanced back up into the man’s eyes, expecting to see a dare, a challenge, anything that said Reno wasn’t smart enough to notice or that he might call the bluff. Instead, he was nearly blindsided by the desperation he saw there. Whatever Rude wasn’t saying was something he was supposed to be threatening Reno’s life for. 

“Take it, Red.” Rude whispered, glancing toward the guards for the briefest second. 

A warning.

Reno swallowed tightly, afraid he might suffocate if he couldn’t breathe soon. Before he could change his mind, he nodded once and held out his right arm, littered with the marks of his old life, the very thing making his heart threaten to rip through his chest right now. He watched only Rude’s face as he nodded in reply. The man tucked away his weapon and reached out with shockingly gentle hands. He leaned forward in concentration, body blocking the guns pointed at them from Reno’s periphery. 

“Just for a second,” Rude warned on a breath. 

Before Reno could process what he meant, he felt the prick and the burn spreading into his arm. He felt prickling scratch up his veins, all the way through his chest in the half second from when Rude pushed the plunger. Just as Reno began to panic, a cold calm washed over him, dragging him down. 

The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Rude’s face, teeth ground, mouth in a firm line, but a looseness around his eyes. A quiet thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> Till next time,  
> -J X


End file.
